World PvP Objectives
A Game of Towers In the wake of the recent Scourge invasion, the Eastern Plaguelands of Lordaeron have gained new strategic importance in the ongoing struggle between the powers of Azeroth. Naxxramas looms on the horizon, and the Scourge is preparing to move once again. The floating necropolis is a clear threat to all of Azeroth, but the presence of one of the Scourge's most important agents also provides a great opportunity to those willing to take the fight to the heart of the undead war machine. With this goal in mind, the Horde and Alliance are now vying for control over strategic points in the Eastern Plaguelands. Four towers are crucial to establishing complete strategic control over the Eastern Plaguelands: Crown Guard Tower to the south, Eastwall Tower near Light's Hope Chapel, Northpass Tower to the north, and Plaguewood Tower in the northwest. Capturing these towers works very much like a tug-of-war. Control over a tower shifts depending on which faction has more characters with an active PvP flag in the tower's direct vicinity. This means that in order to gain control, you need to see to it that there are more members of your own faction present, and you should also hunt down and slay members of the opposite faction to ensure that your side keeps the upper hand. For each tower that your faction holds, all members of your faction in the Eastern Plaguelands will receive an Echoes of Lordaeron buff due to the strategic control over the area. Your faction's spell and melee damage against undead enemies is increased by one percent for each tower you control. If your faction controls all four towers, this buff increases to +5%. Each of the towers also have special attributes usable by your faction when you control them. When a faction captures the Crown Guard Tower, anyone in their faction will have access to a graveyard just north of the tower. The Eastwall Tower, when converted to your faction, sends a group of support units to Northpass Tower whether you control it or not. The Northpass Tower provides your faction with a usable object that gives faction members who use it a 30 minute 5% hit point buff. Finally, the Plaguewood Tower contains a Ghost Flight Master, who will allow you and your team to fly to any of the other three towers, on a special ghostly flying mount. This is very useful for quick reinforcement of contested zones -- and is also fairly handy for getting to Light's Hope Chapel quickly (fly to Eastwall Tower and ride south). Tower Breakdown: Trivia * "A Game of Towers" was named referring to "A Game of Thrones", the first novel of the fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire", written by George RR Martin. The Silithyst Must Flow The Silithyst Must Flow is the name of the world PvP event in Silithus, where players of both factions must try and secure as much silithyst as possible. Silithyst is a red crystalline dust that reaches the surface through geysers exclusive to the Silithus desert. Both the Alliance and the Horde have taken an interest in this new substance, and researchers on both sides have discovered unique and valuable properties in the dust. The Horde and Alliance camps in the region have both been outfitted with turn-in stations where players can unload the Silithyst they collect. Overview To pick up Silithyst, locate a geyser and pick it up. The geyser will despawn, and the player will be carrying the Silithyst. While carrying it, your movement speed is reduced (abilities like "Sprint" will not have any effect) and you will be unable to mount without dropping the Silithyst. The other way of getting Silithyst is locating a player of the opposing faction carrying some. Upon damaging that player, he will drop his/her Silithyst, creating a Silithyst Mound allowing any player to temporarily pick up the Silithyst. After collecting Silithyst, the player should run to the faction's turn in point, displayed on the map. A player may only carry one Silithyst at any time, so after each pickup, you will have to run and turn it in. The first faction to collect 200 Silithyst wins the race. Rewards A single turn in of Silithyst awards the player with the following: * 20 Reputation with the Cenarion Circle faction. * 3 Honor points (was 19 Honor points, before Cataclysm). In addition, the faction that completes the race to 200 Silithyst will receive a zone wide buff, increasing Cenarion Circle reputation gained from killing monsters by 25%. The buff will apply to any player withinSilithus and the Ahn'Qiraj instances, even to those who enter them at a later time. It will persist through death until the opposing faction has collected 200 Silithyst and therefore won the race. A server reboot will reset the battle, which means both sides start at 0/200 Silithyst and lose their buff. This buff is most useful in instances because of the greater amount of reputation collected from each kill. Although non-instance kills only grant 2 points of reputation (10 points as of Patch 3.0.2), while the buff is in effect, every fourth kill will reward 4 reputation points (15 as of Patch 3.0.2). This of course is not a large bonus, but it is still slightly faster than non-buffed reputation farming. Unfortunately, many may find that the honor and reputation bonus are not enough to reward their efforts. The reputation and honor given are both too low to make a day of Silithyst collecting worthwhile compared to the rewards given through the battlegrounds or the various methods of Cenarion Circle reputation farming. As a result, there will rarely be many people collecting any Silithyst outside of the quests requiring it. Notes * After completing the hand in of silithyst dust, players receive a of Silithyst, a 30 minute buff increasing Melee and Spell damage dealt by 5% for turning in Silithyst. Trivia * The name "The Silithyst Must Flow" is an homage to the film adaptation (Dune (film)) of Frank Herbert's novel, Dune, which birthed the popularity of the phrase "The Spice Must Flow" in reference to a highly valued resource in the film itself. Also, the 'spice' in Dune is obtained from a desert planet very similar in appearance to Silithus itself.